Aijaz Ilmi quits BJP, says ‘discourse is too divisive’

NEW DELHI: Doctor Aijaz Ilmi who is a media panelist for BJP since 2014 has quit the Bhartiya Janata Party.

Aijaz took to Twitter and made his resignation public. He wrote, “Amit Shah ji, I hereby resign from the primary membership of the BJP.”

In an exclusive interview to The Quint, Dr. Ilmi had given his reason for quitting the saffron party.

“The discourse is too divisive. I feel it’s better to exit rather than drag Ali-Bajrang-Bali into elections. For many months, I’ve either refused or recused myself from media debates, since most of them are about the Hindu-Muslim divide as the sole narrative. We need to talk about the polity as equal Indian citizens,” Ilmi said.

Ilmi, a well known political analyst and columnist in national and international media holds an MBBS degree in internal medicine from Bangalore University.

Ilmi is the brother of Shazia Ilmi, who joined the BJP in January 2015 after quitting Aam Aadmi Party.